Human Remains Found In San Mateo County Open Space Preserve

SAN MATEO COUNTY (CBS SF) — A local resident discovered human remains and clothing while hiking in an open space preserve in San Mateo County last week, the sheriff’s office announced Thursday.

The hiker went off of a marked trail in the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve the afternoon of Feb. 18 when they spotted a human skull and other skeletal remains, according to sheriff’s Deputy Rebecca Rosenblatt.

Articles of clothing and a pair of shoes were also discovered near the remains, she said.

The hiker headed to Skyline Boulevard and called 911 from his cell phone.

Sheriff’s deputies, detectives, San Mateo County coroner’s personnel and rangers from the Mid-Peninsula Open Space Trust arrived on the scene and met the hiker, who showed them to the area where the remains were found.

The remains were removed from the scene and investigators and coroner’s personnel are attempting to identify them.

With the aid of a forensic anthropologist, coroner’s investigators have determined the victim was a white man between the ages of 54 and 64 years old who had been dead for about three years, Rosenblatt said.

The man appears to have been wearing pants with a 54-inch waist and a 30-inch inseam and size-12 blue, silver and white Nike Air Max Moto sneakers, according to the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s and coroner’s investigators are searching through outstanding missing persons reports from 2009 in an attempt to match the remains.

Anyone with information about the victim whose remains were located is urged to contact Detective Matthew Broad at (650) 363-4363.

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